I leaned in, my breath hovering above his head as I said the words meant to startle him. "Me."
He spun, stumbling over the step when he faltered back at the rage he saw in my eyes. Isa wasn't so fortunate, tripping over the legs that couldn't support her weight when he dropped her to catch his own balance with his unbroken wrist instead of hers. I caught her with my left hand, curling her into my chest to keep her from hitting the floor.
"Who the fuck are you?" the kid asked, reaching out a hand to wrap his grip around Isa's forearm. Glancing down at his sausage fingers touching her delicate fawn skin, I tried to push down the rage I felt when the tips of his fingers indented her flesh.
"How old are you?" I asked him, tilting my head to the side. I took his hand in my grip, twisting it backward as I pried it from Isa's arm. Keeping her clutched against my chest, I watched his face twist in pain and felt nothing but satisfaction.
"Eighteen, man. Fuck, let go," he begged. Hugo whistled behind him, echoing the sentiments that rang in my head. Eighteen was not a minor.
Eighteen was a man. In my country, legal to drink and gamble. Legal to fuck. Legal.
Releasing his hand, the same fingers that had twisted his shot forward. His pulse beat against my palm as I wrapped it around his scrawny neck. The room went silent as everybody froze and moved out of the way. I lifted Isa off her feet with my arm wrapped around her, guiding her barely aware body toward the wall as I pushed him back.
His head connected with a resounding thud.
It still wasn't enough.
"What—" I paused. "Did. You. Give. Her?" He fumbled for purchase, grabbing my hands and dragging short nails down my skin while he gasped for breath.
"Can't breathe," he wheezed.
"Answer the fucking question," I ordered, adjusting Isa at my side.
"Roofies, man." I released his throat slightly to let him continue talking, clenching my teeth while I waited for my answers. "Odina gave them to me, I swear. She opened her Mom's car so I could slip them in the water bottle when I picked her up earlier."
I turned my head to Hugo, giving him a look. He nodded before I spoke, but I still confirmed exactly what I wanted in the meantime. "Find the fucking cunt." He darted into the crowd, undoubtedly ready to do exactly what I demanded.
"I don't think Isa believes in violence," I mused thoughtfully, turning my attention to stare down at her. She tilted her head up at me as I spoke, the shock of her eyes meeting mine for the first time reverberating through me like a claim that I would never escape.
I'd thought myself the captor in our relationship, but I suspected she'd own me just as thoroughly as I possessed her.
When her eyes rolled back and she faded back out a bit more, I turned my attention to the boy who swallowed against my palm. "Fuck, Isa" he laughed. "I thought you were a prude! You just like older men, huh, baby?"
I narrowed my eyes on him, clenching my fingers tighter so he gasped. "Are you always so estúpido?"
"Man, you ain't gonna do shit to me! There's an entire room of witnesses," he laughed on a wheeze. I nodded, releasing him as I leaned into his space.
"That may be so, but they have to go home at some point. Don't they? And who will protect you when I return?" I asked, watching as his face paled and he realized the severity of the situation. Normally, I wouldn't be bothered with killing a man if I couldn't do it in the moment.
For the first time, it was personal. I wouldn't tolerate another man being the one to watch the life bleed from his eyes as he fought for his last breaths. I'd be the only one to have that right.
Hugo stepped up to my right with Odina at his side, cursing and spitting at him as he dragged her to my view. The moment I turned my gaze to her, she silenced, staring up into my face in shock. She recovered quickly, smiling in a way she must have thought was seductive. Her eyes met mine, and it sent a shock of revulsion through me. They weren't Isa's, but they were close enough to be a mockery of everything I saw in her.
"Well, you could have just told me a handsome man demanded my time," she purred. In a move I'd practiced far too many times to count, I ran my eyes up over her body and to her face, and gave her an uninterested look that conveyed just how unimpressed I was. She glanced to her sister, rolling her eyes the moment she realized she was tucked safely in my arms. "Why do the fun ones always like the innocent virgins?" she asked, stepping closer to me. Her hand touched my thigh, moving toward my fly as she spoke. "Let me show you who the fun sister is."
I caught her hand, flinging it away from me before she could touch what wasn't hers. "How fun could a pale imitation be?" I asked, my voice cruel. She flinched, and I knew the words struck home. Whatever issues she had, they stemmed from some seriously misguided jealousy over the sister who only wanted to do right by her.
"Then what the fuck did you summon me for?"
"I know about the roofies in the water," I said simply. "I will make one thing very clear. If your shit ever touches Isa again, I will be the one to make sure you get your shit together. I promise you will not like my methods."
"Yeah. Okay, hotshot," she laughed. "That's an awful lot of trouble to go to for a bitch who won't even
